Friday Fix
by MustBeAWriter
Summary: A new fic posted every Friday to start your weekend off right. Chapters will be unrelated, unless specified.
1. November 11th 2016

_season 5, between Final Frontier and Swan Song; lunch date at Remy's_

(Kate)

It's still so surreal to her. They're coming up on their six month anniversary, and some days she still can't wrap her mind around the idea of dating Castle.

This could just be any other day, and to anyone on the outside looking in it is. They've does this a million times; eaten lunch at Remy's in the middle of the week. Eating burgers together while Castle makes up life stories for the other patrons, Kate indulging him and occasionally stealing fries from his plate.

They've been on this very date so many times, before they were ever dating, while they were dating other people, that she's certain it looks like nothing has changed. This is a routine for them, one that she cherishes, and she loves that, even in the ever shrinking privacy of their relationship, they can still have this.

"Kate?"

She's pulled out of her thoughts, looks up to meet his curious gaze. "Yeah?"

"You okay?" he asks. "You completely spaced out for a minute."

She can feel the blush staining her cheeks even as she smiles. "I'm good, Castle. Just thinking."

"About the case?"

Kate shakes her head. "About us," she says softly.

He nods. "Only good things, I hope," he teases.

She takes his hand, squeezes it reassuringly. "Yeah, Castle," she says. "Only good things."


	2. November 18th 2016

(Castle)

It seems he's finally found something that Kate Beckett isn't good at.

It had started out innocently enough. Their team had a rare weekend off, and he was going home to an empty loft, so he'd invited them over. Pizza, beer, video games, and absolutely no murder talk.

Beckett had hesitated at first, but after a minute or so of pleading she'd given in with a sigh and an eyeroll.

And now, a few hours and not nearly enough beer to impair her faculties later, he's figured out why she tried to back out.

Beckett _sucks_ at video games.

And not just one genre of video games either. So far they've played Halo, Madden, and Wii Tennis, and she's been terrible at all of them. To her credit, she's not letting it get her down. She's certainly having more fun than he would be in her shoes. (He may or may not have been accused of being a sore loser on more than one occasion.)

"So, what's next, Castle?" Espo asks, taking a swig of his beer.

Castle shrugs. "I've got no preference. What do you guys want to play?"

Ryan's eyes light up. "Ooh! Can we play Mario Kart?" he asks. "I haven't played since the last time I babysat my nephews."

"Sounds good to me," Castle says. "Beckett?"

"I don't mind," she says. "Who knows, maybe I'll actually do okay with this one."

They all laugh as Castle hunts down the game and inserts the disc.

"I apologize in advance," Ryan says once they're in the game. "But I am about to kick all of your asses."

Espo scoffs. "I've seen your stats, bro," he says. "You're not _that_ good."

"You really think I'm playing to win against Jenny or a couple of six-year-olds?" Ryan retorts, smirking. "I'm going to crush you."

(True to his word, Ryan crushes them at Mario Kart. But then Castle pulls out Guitar Hero, and he's proud to be the one that helped Beckett find a video game that she's good at.)


	3. November 25th 2016

(Kate)

She's not entirely sure how this happened.

She'd woken up in the middle of the night and come out to the kitchen for a glass of water, only to find Alexis up as well, staring down at the street.

"I can't sleep," she'd explained. "I keep thinking they're going to come back for me."

Kate had pulled her away from the window, settled her on the couch, and picked one of their numerous Disney movies to put on. Then she'd sat down on the couch and let Alexis curl into her side.

And now here she is, forty minutes later, quietly crying over an old man and a flying house. Alexis is fast asleep, dead weight against her, and she should move. She should let the girl stretch out on the couch and go back to bed. But she's invested now. She needs to know how the story ends.

The floorboards creak behind her, and she looks up to see Castle standing there, a little bemused and a lot sleepy.

"What're you doing up?" he murmurs, rubbing at his eyes.

"Alexis couldn't sleep," she explains, tries to hide a sniffle. "So we decided to watch a movie."

He comes around to sit next to her, and she leans into his warmth immediately. "Oh, this is a good one," he says softly. "I love the dog."

She nods. "Me too," she says. "He kind of reminds me of you."

He's quiet for a moment. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

They finish the movie in companionable silence, broken only when he stretches as the credits roll.

"Are you up for another movie?" he asks, smirking. "Maybe one that doesn't make you cry?"

She attempts a glare, it's effectiveness dampened by the undeniable evidence of her tears.

He ignores her, holds up Beauty and the Beast. "Feel like going old school?"

She drops the glare, grinning. Beauty and the Beast was her favorite movie as a kid. Not that Castle needs to know that...yet. "Yeah okay," she agrees, feigning nonchalance.

"Alexis loved this movie when she was little," he explains as he sets it up. "Still does, actually. I know every song by heart," he adds proudly.

"Does this mean I'm about to witness a sing-along?" she teases.

Castle grins. "Only if you sing with me, Beckett."

She hums. "We'll see."

(She totally throws him under the bus when they accidentally wake Alexis during Be Our Guest. He doesn't seem to care.)


	4. December 16th 2016

_Scooby Doo crossover_

(Kate)

She's ready to send Castle home.

At the very least, he isn't coming into interrogation with her. He's been geeking out over the quartet of teenagers that they found snooping around their crime scene earlier that night. Even she's heard the rumors of the group of kids helping police solve cases across the Midwest. She just never thought that Mystery Inc. would end up in her interrogation room. Or that Castle would be so starstruck by high-schoolers. He's been spouting random trivia for the past hour, everything from their names to their hometown to the fact that Shaggy's name is actually Norville.

"Can I please sit in on the interrogation, Beckett?" he pleads. "I won't say a word, I promise. This is just possibly the coolest day of my entire life."

"For the last time, Castle, no," she says, sighing. "I'm sure you can get a selfie with them later, but right now, all you're going to be is a distraction."

"Fine," he mutters, and he looks so dejected that she actually feels bad. She considers letting him come with her, but something catches her eye in the break room, and an idea pops into her head.

"Hey, it looks like L.T. has his hands full with their dog," she says, smiling when he immediately perks up. "Why don't you help him while I talk to them?"

"Yeah, okay," he says, taking off for the break room before she can say another word.

She heads for Observation first, watches the kids through the glass for a few minutes. For the most part, they look calm and collected; like they've seen the inside of an interrogation room many times before. Aside from the lanky kid, who looks like he's perpetually ten seconds away from wetting himself, there's no sign of nerves whatsoever.

The girls are deep in whispered conversation, which they abruptly cut off when she finally enters Interrogation. She leans against the two-way mirror, decides to cut right to the chase. "I assume you four know why you're here."

They exchange glances before answering in unison. "Trespassing."

Beckett nods. "Sounds like you kids have experience with this."

Daphne shrugs. "Not as much as you might assume," she says. "We generally don't interact with law enforcement until after we've cracked a case."

"We have had a few run-ins with local police," Velma adds. "But, like Daphne said, far less than one might imagine."

She nods again. "And is this your first time interfering with a murder investigation?"

Their eyes all go wide. "Murder?" Daphne asks softly.

Beckett sighs. "The abandoned building that we found you in was the site of a recent homicide."

Fred swallows hard, his confident demeanor all but gone. "We had no idea," he says. "We were-we were just-"

She softens a little, moves to sit across the table from them. "You were just what?" she asks.

They all exchange glances again. "You're not going to believe us, but..." Velma starts, trailing off uncertainly.

"But..." Beckett prompts.

"Ghosts," Shaggy finally says. "We'd talked to a couple of people who were pretty sure the building was haunted, so they decided we should investigate."

She looks at them incredulously. "You kids are ghost hunters?"

"To be fair, we've never actually encountered a real ghost or monster or supernatural being of any kind," Daphne says. "They've all been weirdos in elaborate costumes, generally aided by crazy special effects."

Beckett pulls out a picture of their victim. "Have any of you seen this woman before?"

They all shake their heads. "Okay," she says. "I'm going to need the names of the people who told you that building was haunted, but after that you're free to go."

"Do you think they might have been involved in the murder?" Velma asks.

"It's a possibility," Beckett says. "They might have sent you guys in there to disturb evidence or contaminate the crime scene."

She feels awful for the guilt that shines through. That hadn't been her intention. "If we did anything to make your job harder, we're really sorry," Daphne says earnestly.

"It's okay," she assures them. "Just be more careful of where you go snooping around next time, okay?"

They all nod as she ushers them out of Interrogation. "Uh, Detective?" Shaggy pipes up.

"Yes?" she asks.

"Do you know where my dog is?" he asks. "Scoob can get pretty nervous when we're separated for too long."

She smiles, points across the bullpen. "He's in the break room with my partner." Shaggy jogs off with Fred and Daphne close behind. Velma scribbles something in a notebook and tears the page out.

"These are the people who told us that building was haunted," she explains, handing Beckett the paper, then following her friends.

(With the lead they get from those names, they solve the case in record time. And Castle finally gets his selfie with Mystery Inc.)


End file.
